1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the work piece processing systems, more particularly to devices and methods for clamping such work pieces.
2. Description of the Related Art
Like most others, the automobile industry is highly competitive and the companies in it are striving to improve productivity at every step. One important aspect of the automobile manufacturing is the ability to switch dies and jigs in a relatively short period of time to accommodate a model change. Commonly, a set-up jig is used to position a work piece in a processing operation such as spot welding operation. The set-up jig is provided with a number of clamp devices which clamp a designated clamping site on the work piece. The clamps are automated so that they can be quickly opened and closed to handle successive work pieces in a production line.
Each clamp device has a pair of templates which provide clamp surfaces accommodating the shape or profile of the work piece at the corresponding clamping site. Accordingly, the set-up jig is operable to receive and to clamp the work piece with a plurality of clamps, each operating at a designated clamping site from one work piece to the next throughout the production run for a particular model.
It is not uncommon for the production line to process two or more work piece types which have identical clamping sites but which requires different templates because of changes in shape or profile from one work piece type to the next. This can occur, for example, where work pieces for successive production runs are door panels or trunk lids for different models of the same vehicle. In these cases, then, the locations of the clamps do not need to be changed between production runs. However, a production Associate must still shut the line down to make manual adjustments to each clamp device to replace the templates for the previous work piece type with a new set of templates. This can be a time consuming process in some cases and in others cause subtle changes in the clamping surfaces which can in turn cause undesirable fluctuations in quality from one production run to the next.
It is therefore an object to provide a novel processing system.